The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) is committed to the principles of openness and transparency in making disclosure determinations, and it is OLMS policy to disclose information to the maximum extent practicable. A FOIA request can be made for any agency record. This does not mean, however, that OLMS will disclose every record sought. There are statutory exemptions that authorize the withholding of information of an appropriately sensitive nature. When OLMS does withhold information from you, it ordinarily must specify what exemptions of the FOIA permits the withholding. You should be aware that the FOIA does not require agencies to do research for you, to analyze data, to answer written questions, or to create documents that cannot be reproduced without a reasonable amount of effort.

OLMS will respond to written requests received via the mail, fax, or e-mail. FOIA requests submitted via e-mail must be e-mailed to foiarequest@dol.gov. OLMS will not accept a request submitted to any other e-mail address. Written requests may also be faxed to (202) 693-1340 or mailed to the following address:

You should include the notation "Attention: FOIA Request" on the front of your request envelope and also at the beginning of your request letter. In this way you will be sure that the responsible individual receives your request without delay.

In making your request, identify the documents you want as clearly as possible. The more precise and accurate the request, the more likely you are to get a complete, expeditious response. For example, include the following in your request:

Subject

Office or Program that maintains the information

Location of documents

Time documents were probably created

Case or file number, if applicable

Your telephone number, e-mail address, and mailing address

Fee information (see below)

Fee: The FOIA Disclosure Officer can charge fees for processing FOIA requests. Therefore, specify the fee category in which you feel your request falls and the amount you are willing to pay. The FOIA divides requesters into four categories:

Commercial use requesters may be charged fees for searching for documents, reviewing the documents, and duplication.

Educational or noncommercial scientific institutions may be charged only for duplication, minus the first 100 pages.

Representatives of the news media may be charged only for duplication, minus the first 100 pages.

All other requesters may be charged fees for searching for documents and duplication, minus the first two hours of search time and the first 100 pages.

No charge will be made if the cost of collecting a fee would be equal to or greater than the fee itself; for the Department of Labor this amount is $5.00. In cases where no documents are located, and the requester falls into a category that must pay fees, OLMS is entitled to charge the requester for any applicable search time involved.

Fee Waivers: Fee waivers may be granted when disclosure of the documents is in the public interest and is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the Government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. When making a request for a fee waiver, consider the following: (1) Does the document concern the operations or activities of the government? (2) Is disclosure likely to contribute to the public understanding of these operations and activities? and (3) Will that contribution be significant? Requests for fee waivers must be fully documented and justified by written explanation.

Appeals: A person whose initial FOIA request for documents has been denied, either in part or in whole, or who has received a "no records" response, or whose request for a fee waiver has been denied, has the right to appeal the denial to the Solicitor of Labor within 90 days after receipt of notification of the denial. Send an appeal to:

Time Limits: Agencies are required to respond to a FOIA request within 20 business days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. This period does not begin until the request is actually received by the Disclosure Officer who has jurisdiction over the records sought. In specific situations, an additional 10-day extension may be granted in responding to a request. The FOIA provides for extensions of initial time limits under unusual circumstances, which are defined as (1) The need to search for and collect records from separate offices; (2) The need to consult with another agency or agency component; and (3) The need to examine a voluminous amount of records required by the request.

OLMS uses a multitrack processing, three-queue system to distinguish between simple and more complex requests based on the amount of work and/or time needed to process a request -- 250 pages or less (small queue), 251 pages to 500 pages (medium queue), or more than 501 pages (large queue). The small queue has the fastest rate of processing. Reducing the scope of your request so that it will fall within one of the smaller queues will allow you to lower search and duplication costs and hasten the receipt of information.

Public Records: It is OLMS policy not to search, review, or duplicate copies of a labor organization's constitutions and bylaws or disclosure reports filed with the Department of Labor. Pursuant to 29 C.F. R. §70.53, these documents are public records. FOIA requests for public records are considered improper requests. Individuals can access and download public records from the Internet Public Disclosure Room at www.unionreports.gov. If the documents you seek are not available at this web site, they can be examined and photocopied (for a fee) at the onsite Public Disclosure room:

OLMS FOIA Requester Service Center: For questions concerning the FOIA request process, please contact OLMS at (202) 693-0123 or OLMS-FOIA@dol.gov. Please note that this email address can be used to answer questions or provide advice only. DOL only receives initial FOIA requests via email at foiarequests@dol.gov; requests can also be faxed or mailed pursuant to the above procedures. You can also track your FOIA request at the Department's FOIA public portal.